Page 51 of Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy 3)
Mount
The casino floor is partially cleared when I arrive, but not completely. It’ll be done before the cops get there, though, and I’ll be waiting to have a discussion that shouldn’t be necessary. By the time they leave, there will be no question that this city still belongs to me.
I text V.
Mount: You have her?
V: Not yet. On my way.
Mount: Tell me when you have her.
V: Will do.
I help haul away tables, filling truck after truck that will leave the city in different directions, until sweat drips down my collar.
V hasn’t texted me back yet, and it’s been almost forty minutes. Something doesn’t feel right.
Mount: You have her?
V: She’s not here. I’ve been looking. Can’t find her.
I’ve lived my life on gut instinct, and I should have listened to it. Something is totally off.
Mount: FIND HER NOW.
My next call is to J. “Did we miss anyone? Anyone at all?” I don’t have to specify what I’m talking about.
“No, boss. We got them all. Every single fucking one.”
“Are you absolutely certain? Because if you’re wrong—”
“I’m not wrong. What the hell is going on?”
“V can’t find Keira at the distillery. Something’s not right.”
“V couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag. It’s a big building. He’s probably lost himself.”
J’s dismissive tone pisses me right the fuck off, and I don’t bother responding. I hang up.
Keira
I wake up, my hands bound behind my back. A horrid stench fills my nostrils.
“Oh God. What is that?”
“Fucking bitch. You just won’t die, will you?”
My eyes snap open, focusing on the beam of a flashlight and the blond woman standing just beyond it, her hair almost white in the moonlight. I’ve never seen her before in my life.
“Who the hell are you?” I choke out the words as the nasty smell threatens to bring up everything I ate tonight.
“I’m the only one who understands him. I’m the one who gets to be with him. I’m his destiny.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I struggle to sit up, but my hand touches something that crunches and crumbles beneath it.
I take my eyes off her for one second to look down at what else the flashlight beam has illuminated.
“Oh my God.” I’m lying on top of a pile of bodies. Skeletons. Decomposing corpses. All wearing women’s clothes.
